Life expectancy of Optima Red Top Battery ?

[quattrorally]

Hi All,

Does any one know the life expectancy of the Optima Red Top battery ?

Do they last longer than regular batteries, or should I expect the same lifespan ?

Mine is about 8 years old and in the winter it gets pretty cold here, so I don't want to be faced with a dead battery one day ?

Thanks

[old guy]

8 years? If it were me I would be replacing it soon. You know your days are numbered....

[Seerlah]

Replaced my Red Top under warranty 3 times before the 3 year warranty was up. When the last replacement takes a dump, no sure what battery I will be replacing it with.

But since you live in NH, you want the Yellow Top and not Red Top. Red Tops don't like the cold too much. They also don't like to hold charge if they drop below around 10V. Same reason mine had to get replaced every time.

[xhackerekx]

my no hold voltage after 2 years :) for me is waste money.

[PreciseD]

In 2000 they were sold to Johnson Controls who built a plant in Mexico. They made them in both Mexico and USA until 2009 when they shut down the USA plant.

If you have one that was made in USA then it is much higher quality and has less issues. Moral of the story is they are now JUNK and I would stay away.

[quattrorally]

Thanks for all your comments, next time I'm in the shop I'll ask them to test it and see what they say...

But i did notice that when the car was parked for a part of the day in -15C, it struggled, where as last winner in -25C it had no issues starting after 9h

Thanks

[imnuts]

I believe that the average battery life span is expected to be 3-5 years. They can and do last longer, but the performance will start to drop off.

[SaabtoAudi]

Or get a battery maintainer, and when it's parked, try to keep a charge on the battery. My battery was getting weak before the winter and haven't felt like replacing the battery ( I don't plan on keep the car much longer), so I have kept it on my battery tender jr. and it seems to have brought it back to life.

[Audi 4 Life]

A genuine Audi battery is like 100$ I just replaced mine which looked like it was the original and if not had been in there awhile and it still worked when I took it out. So I just don't see the benefits of paying more for a optima that isn't going to last longer or perform any better than a new genuine Audi Battery.

[pkt1213]

Where did you get an OE battery for $100? My local is telling me $194.

[old guy]

Where did you get an OE battery for $100? My local is telling me $194.

I bought an OEM one from the local VW dealer last week for $130.

[Charles.waite]

mine is around 3 years old and works just fine.

[quattrorally]

Where did you get an OE battery for $100? My local is telling me $194.

I ended up buying the VW/AUDI from my mechanic, for $130.
He said that they have the least problems with them.

[CyberPMG]

I seem to have one of the last US made Optima Red Top battery. I also have an Optima battery maintainer that will do trickle charging and deep cycle recharging to help keep the battery at it's best peak level. I typically will use the charger once every three months and allow a minimal 24 hour recharge time. Battery remains holding a charge just fine. It struggled a bit last month (coldest February on record in Ohio), but pulled through just fine. I thought I had an issue a few years ago, but it turned out the alternator went bad.